This invention relates to cabinets for housing electronic equipment. Digital Loop Carrier Transmission Systems, such as the Subscriber Loop Carrier (SLC.RTM.) System, typically include remote terminals which are installed at strategic outdoor locations to provide telecommunication services to several hundred subscribers each. These terminals include several shelves of sophisticated electronic equipment which must be protected from the elements and should be serviced on a regular basis.
In order to provide access to the equipment, the cabinets usually include double doors which pivot horizontally on hinges at opposite ends of at least one face of the cabinet (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,277 issued to Bainbridge et at.). Since the doors swing out, such cabinets required an easement from the property owner which is much larger than the size of the cabinet itself. Further, there is generally no protection for the craftsperson working on the electronics during a rainstorm or snowstorm. Water from such a storm would also collect at the interfaces of the door and cabinet and cause the door to freeze shut. At least one suggestion provides for an overhanging top to prevent water from dripping into the cabinet (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,218 issued to Blanchard et al.).